Being a woman is awesome, but taking care of a woman’s contraceptive health can be a pain in the neck!

Something needed to be done to update the relic ways of managing birth control.

Enter OUI! The need for a contemporary, all-around tool for regulating and controlling the process of managing possible pregnancies, was becoming bigger by the day.

The initial idea behind OUI was to develop modern, yet more natural and non-hormonal contraception methods for women. By replacing the old contraceptive methods, side-effects would become a thing of the past.

The beginning of the journey of three young people wasn’t all smooth and easy. Persistence, self-confidence, and belief led Thomas, Frederik, and Ljudmila towards the making of the OIU method for birth control.

Stick around and continue reading the story of Ljudmila, Thomas, and Frederik and their journey towards creating something safer, and more pleasant for the female population of today.

Different People with the Same Passion

Frederik Petursson Madsen was born and schooled in Denmark. Frederik has always been a good and reliable student. Even when he was just a kid, Frederik showed ambitious character and an enormous commitment to things. Even then, Frederik possessed that curious gene that would lead him far in life, later. His leadership skills and interesting ideas have brought him to where he is now.

Thomas Crouzier, born in Sweden, considered himself passionate about science even from an early age. He always educated himself and took on more advanced subjects when he was in high school because he wanted to be a scientist when he grew up.

Ljudmila Katchar was born in Germany, completing middle school and high school there. After that, Ljudmila went on to pursue her dream of being a neuroscientist. While in college, she was very successful with group projects.

Crossing Paths

Frederick's work experience starts as a Junior Consultant in a firm called Nordenkon, where he assisted in writing business plans and organizing company visits. His next job was as an analyst at the Confederation of Danish Industry. He was focused on business development and project management for various Danish companies.

Things went uphill for Frederik after he got a job as an Innovation Consultant at Medicoindustrien. While at the company, Frederik started getting ideas about something to invent, and thus he founded the company Cirqle Biomedical.

At the KTH Royal Institute of Technology, Thomas had his first serious job as an educator and research leader in the field of chemistry. The Institute of Technology is the place that marked the beginnings of his appreciation of mucus engineering and thus he started mucus research. Frederick traveled to KTH in Sweden and that is where he met Thomas.

After more than two years of communicating with users and trying to accomplish the idea he had about changing the material of the diaphragm, Frederik finally met Dr. Thomas Crouzier at the Stockholm Royal Institute of Technology.

As a biomaterials engineer and working on mucus, Thomas decided that as a contraception alternative, strengthening the cervical mucus instead of putting a barrier is much better.

During his postdoctoral appointment at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Thomas had first worked on mucus engineering. When he made a presentation about how the cervical mucus can replace the old-fashioned silicone barriers, it was clear to Frederick that something big and unprecedented could be accomplished.

The third key executive, Ljudmila, started off as an ambitious scientist to be and joined the team on their purpose. But before that, she worked in the department of chemistry and researched the nervous system. Even at college, she was known as a hard-working and committed student who will, later on, add tremendous value to the mucus contraception project.

The Big Break of the OUI

It was 2015 when Frederik wondered if he could make the perfect and safe contraceptive with no side effects, unlike others.

While with his girlfriend, Frederik came to the knowledge that using the regular pill for birth control had left his girlfriend suffering many side effects. Wanting to resort to a different option, Frederik’s eyes got opened wide to the lack of non-hormonal birth control alternatives.

At that time, he worked as an Innovation Consultant at Medicoindustrien, implementing new and creative ideas or some interesting strategies. After talking to his girlfriend about this delicate topic with which not many men are familiar, Frederik and Thomas decided to try and make a new non-hormonal contraceptive.

With the help and donation of Dr. Ulrike Schimpf, a researcher at the KTH, the two collected some of the donated materials (ovulatory cervical mucus and semen) and started their practice.

Their breakthrough was in early 2019 when the Cirqle Biomedical and the idea about a non-hormonal mucus contraceptive was accepted into the Creation House program. The company’s main goal was to invent a 100% unique and natural contraceptive, and it did it!

Breaking Through

In this field of expertise, the number of similar methods is not that big. Although some non-hormonal contraception methods include barrier methods, withdrawal, and outercourse, there is no other like the OUI cervical mucus barrier.

Although climbing the stairs in the world of science is definitely not an easy undertaking, the three enthusiastic co-founders decided to make a change, no matter what. Entering the delicate sphere of feminine contraceptive health, a lot needed to be done.

Before breaking ground with the OIU, the company had to shake off some serious competition coming from companies like Adiana, Aspivix, and Azalea Biomedical among a few others.

Being a startup means that getting funding is paramount. Like many budding companies, Cirqle Biomedical had to find a way to financially support its product to ensure a productive release.

The funding of contraceptive technology is co-managed by the BioInnovation Institute (BII) and Rhia Ventures, an investor for underfunded areas of women's health.

Cirqle Biomedical has made public that the funding for pre-clinical development is secured by $1.8M. The funding enables the company to broaden its research, employing animal subjects and expand the chances of much bigger success in the future.

The collaboration with Rhia and the BII in this femtech health field has helped the trio a lot on their journey. This should be an inspiration for similar companies like Cirqle Biomedical to create even better and modern hormonal-free contraceptive products for both men and women.

Where Are They Now?

The OUI executive team has accomplished something that has never before been done. The mucus barrier as contraception will start being researched on animal models any time now and we hope it goes great. OUI birth control is not just another one among others, it is a start of a new era with this contraceptive that will for sure meet a lot of women's likings.

Today, Cirqle Biomedical’s headquarters are in Copenhagen, Denmark, numbering 11 employees, all working tirelessly towards bettering feminine health.

Ljudmila is the current Head of Research, while Thomas is the co-founder and CSO. Frederik is the current co-founder and CEO of Cirqle Biomedical.

Offering you the freedom to use it as you like, with a formula containing no hormones, only a natural mucus layer, this is one of the best contraception methods ever seen. With the pace the team leads, we can only hope that many more great achievements will follow!